Pros and Cons of Buying Laptop from Cav Computers? ; Local Bank Account??

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>I have two questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Can anyone offer advice about buying a laptop through the University's Cavailier Computers, vs. buying it on your own? Cav Computers stresses their local repairs, the repair contract and their free loaners during repairs. They also say the laptops they sell are more durable than what is typically found in a discount store. However, I understand they are more expensive than discount stores.</p></li>
<li><p>Is there a need for a local bank account? I understand that Bank of America and Wells Fargo/Wachovia are the most common nearby banks. I understand most students use debit cards, so there is less need for local checks or access to a local ATM. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>(Back in the old days, local businesses accepted a check from any bank as long as a UVa student had their student ID. I don't know if that is still true.)</p>

2

<p>We will go with the Cav Computers, despite the higher cost, and probably not being as good as what we might get privately (keeping my fingers crossed for a good option for SEAS this year). Why? Because I’ve had kids spill drinks on a computer, bump it off a table, cooling fans give out after marathon COD, etc., and had to call support, wait for a packing box, ship it off, and wait for the return. The last two times I had the kids do it themselves. This never takes less than a week. My kids are pretty self sufficient, however if their computer goes belly-up for whatever reason having on-site assistance and a loaner available will be a lifesaver. Unlike at home, they won’t have an alternate readily available. Another key is to teach them to backup often so loss of work is minimal (or use a cloud).</p>

3

<p>Regarding banking:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/893503-banks-near-uva-campus.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/893503-banks-near-uva-campus.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/706165-what-banks-campus.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/706165-what-banks-campus.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/911338-should-new-students-open-new-checking-account.html?highlight=banks[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/911338-should-new-students-open-new-checking-account.html?highlight=banks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’ve never seen a student pull out a check book at a store. There is no need to use a “local” bank. The ATMs on Grounds are national, except for the UVA Credit Union ATM in Alderman. :)</p>

4

<p>We purchased from CAV Computers last year a MacBook Pro for each S1 and 2. They placed the order in June and we picked them up at the bookstore in July. You have several options for type of computer and shipping/picking up. On move in day they were able to connect to the UVA system quite easily. They liked the fact the software was preloaded and that it was so easy to connect to the UVA system. S1 has a minor issue that he will take it in after exams to have repaired. Will let you know how that is handled. </p>

<p>It is good to have an account with a bank that has an ATM close by for those ‘just in case’ times. Our sons carry very little money, but know they can access it if need be. They mainly use their debit cards or their UVA accounts. Most all local merchants/restaurants take a debit card so it makes it easy for them. For all transactions on grounds, students find they can use a few different options and each is attached to their ID card-so to speak. </p>

<p>UVA Account: This allows a student to charge items at the bookstore ie books, clothing, supplies, computer accessories, etc. It is very convenient and they or a parent can pay it off each month online using the quik pay option or another method of payment.</p>

<p>CAV Advantage: This is great to have for students to do laundry, print off items at the library, etc. It can also be used at the bookstore, places to eat (only on grounds) such as the Castle (open for late night snacks), etc. My sons are very glad they have this option, they don’t have to worry about quarters for laundry and if they are hungry at night they go and get something at the castle without having to worry about cash money on hand. You can open this account online after they get their UVA ID/email at orientation. </p>

<p>I want to also add in here about Quik Pay accounts. These are great if you do not want to worry about sending in a check via US Mail. I pay all their tuition/room/board/fees, bookstore charges through this account. It is easy to set up and you can have it draw funds straight from an account you link it to. I check it each month, pay whatever may be due and print off a receipt. </p>

<p>Summer Orientation is as much for parents as it is for the students. The Office that handles this does a great parent program and every possible topic and question you may have regarding computers, move in, financial (how to pay, different accounts, etc), courses and much much more is covered. Please be sure to attend this summer while your student is doing their tasks at hand. There is a lot for you to be aware of. It definitely made our transition much easier knowing all the information they shared those two days. Also attend the fair the second day very important info there too. </p>

<p>This is an exciting time for all of you! I can honestly tell you throughout this year everyone that works at UVA has truly been as nice and as helpful as they could be to myself and my sons. </p>

<p>Hope this helps Charlie!</p>

5

<p>Here’s the Summer Orientation website: [University</a> of Virginia | Summer Orientation](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/orientation/summer/]University”>http://www.virginia.edu/orientation/summer/)</p>

<p>:)</p>

6

<p>Thanks for everyone’s thoughts.</p>

<p>Here’s how banking seems to make sense to me:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I’ll have my son keep his hometown checking account (which is a great bank). Wells Fargo and Bank of America have much worse policies and fees. For instance, at Bank of America, if you use a teller for deposits, you get hit with high fees. </p></li>
<li><p>Then, if he wants to regularly use a local ATM without fees, I’ll have him open up an account at the UVa Community Credit Union, which has much more advantageous fees and policies than Wells Fargo and Bank of America. </p></li>
</ol>

<p><a href=“https://www.uvacreditunion.org/home/personal/checking[/url]”>https://www.uvacreditunion.org/home/personal/checking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There is no reason to have a savings account or to put money into a CD today because the interest rates are comical.</p>

7

<p>Are you an art student in desperate need for a laptop that can run movie editing software, graphic design software and three Adobe products at the same time? There are $400 netbooks that will run Word and Internet smoothly and will not cause you too much trouble for 2+ years. Hell, my netbook runs Photoshop and 14 tabs of Internet with no trouble.</p>

8

<p>blueiguana or woosah: Which, if any accessories did you also purchase through Cav Computers? And, have you heard of theft being an issue? I would think not with the honor code, but I suppose a non-student could potentially break into a dorm room.</p>

9

<p>@oldUVAgrad,
My son is an incoming student this fall (SEAS2015) so we are getting ready to purchase his computer soon. My previous post was to state our intent, not that we had. Sorry if I was unclear. </p>

<p>Hopefully current/past students will answer your question regarding theft. It does sit in the back of a parents mind with equipment this expensive. </p>

<p>Good luck to your student!</p>

10

<p>I had a Cav computer, and now I have a netbook. Some kids don’t like the netbooks because you can’t watch movies on them (mine has no CD drive), and the screens are a throwback to 2000-era resolutions (think 800x600). But mine was $250 from Best Buy and has a 2 year warranty (cost a bit on top of the 250, that I’ve never activated). For that kind of money, instead of a Cav, you could forget the netbook warranty and buy a new netbook every year, right? Netbooks didn’t exist when I started at UVA but I would urge people to consider that as an option.</p>

<p>My Cav (Dell) started dying my 2nd year and by my 3rd year it was totally toast. Battery replacement was not covered (it might be now?) but that was the real killer (I spent as much on replacement batteries as I did on my netbook! By 3rd year I gave up and just permanently kept the laptop plugged in, defeating the entire purpose of having a laptop). Additionally, they had to replace my power cord twice and when my computer had a stop error (BSOD) I had to give it to my stepdad’s company to fix (Cav will just wipe and reinstall windows versus my stepdad’s company preserved all of my files with the install). To be fair, I also spilled tea on my computer one time. It actually did not die, it started up just fine (it was actually on all night in the tea puddle… lol… I have written about this before – <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/925863-computer.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-virginia/925863-computer.html&lt;/a&gt;). But I told them, it is going to die in less than a few weeks if you do not check it out and pre-emptively fix some stuff, and it will cost you more to replace the whole thing. They liked that logic apparently. They gave me a new motherboard. By my 4th year, I was getting all sorts of bad sector errors (basically the hard drive was failing for good). So even though they may “fix” your computer on site, they don’t really fix it, and all of the software is out of date in 4 years as well. And I am here for 5 years and would have been SOL if I could not afford a new computer basically.</p>

<p>I will say, though, for an engineer or for someone doing heavy video editing, a netbook might not suit your needs, especially now that you’ll be required to run Hive software instead of being able to use a public computing lab, but for the casual paper-writer a netbook is more than sufficient. The best addition Cav makes to student computing is that you can buy Windows 7 and the newest version of Office for $10 each at the bookstore (highly recommended!!). I did have to rig up my desktop to let my netbook use its CD drive to install Office though (since my netbook doesn’t have a CD drive like I said). My mom got me an external one but I had already set up my drive sharing by that point… I am clearly showing my geekiness at this point…</p>

<p>In other news, I don’t know anything about student Macs… So that is a totally different story.</p>

<p>As far as banks, your child can just use the other bank’s atms and take out a good amount of money to offset the fee (or with Wachovia I could get 2/mo free I think, I never tried it though), and make sure the Cav card is loaded up (they will use this much more). A credit card is a good option if they are responsible. The only reason I went to the atm a lot my first year was because I was working and not using direct deposit. The only time I had to go to the bank in person was when all of my cards demagnitized themselves 3rd year, and when I needed checks for UVA’s direct deposit policy once I started my 2nd job with them my 2nd year.</p>

11

<p>Oh, also, theft in dorms is not an issue. Theft in libraries (ie. leaving your computer unattended in a library) has been discussed here before, they even have signs out now saying that you shouldn’t leave your computer unattended. The only place I am willing to do that is in the Stacks computer lab, because I have worked there for 7 semesters holding office hours I know so many of the students, they will watch my stuff for me, and I don’t do it often, only if I have to run downstairs for a second or something.</p>

12

<p>S1 and S2 have macbooks and have had very good luck with them. They were used to macs since that is what they used all throughout HS and felt comfortable with their longevity and durability. S2 had to take his in to CAV computers and Hazel is correct in that they will wipe your computer clean if there is an issue, however CAV computers did back it up and replace/restore all of the files and data that was originally on it. They have not had really any issues with them this 1st year, except for this recent one. On a side note I do recommend you get a sleeve or a backpack (a separate section for a computer) for the laptop, it seems most issues for other students has been the shuffling around and banging of the device. </p>

<p>We did get each one an external hard drive for files/documents/etc. This is a good purchase and can be found on amazon/costco/etc. for a decent price. </p>

<p>The other thing we did was get the insurance on it. It is their own policy through our agent and it cost $30 a year and covers pretty much anything-theft, damage, etc. So if the warranty does not cover it or it gets stolen then for us it is worth the money to have piece of mind. When you are shelling out that much money and you want it to last for 3-4 years you want some kind of back up policy. </p>

<p>On a side note:
As far as printers, again the sales are in July/August and get one that will last. More students used S1’s because theirs did not withstand the amount of use. We knew we wanted one that would last for several years. Check out the ratings of the printers and make your own decision as to what is best for your situation. We paid a bit more upfront, but at least theirs still work quite well.</p>

<p>I concur with Hazel I have heard theft is not a major issue, but keeping your room locked and not leaving it unattended in public areas is probably your best bet.</p>

13

<p>Thanks for all the info. I called our insurance company, and I will get a rider for the computer:). It is worth the small amound to have a peace of mind. It will cover damage, theft or leaving it behind in class (which I hope doesn’t happen:)). </p>

<p>Hazelorb, I didn’t realize that netbooks were so inexpensive! Our high schools let Physics students use them for the time they are enrolled in Physics, and the students were able to do most projects with it.</p>

14

<p>Yeah and I just went on bestbuy’s website and it seems like they’re having a $199 special right now too. The one I got for $250 is there, too. I have the Eee one but my desktop is HP so I would have gotten that one if I had known how much I like netbooks (strangely the netbooks are more on HP’s own site). You can also get really good deals when you buy a desktop, if your family needs a new one for instance…</p>

15

<p>D is a first year in SEAS. We bought the CAV computer recommended (Dell) in July and it was not delivered until the second week of the semester. It was supposed to be in her room the day we arrived. When we called they said “We sent you an e-mail (at 1900 the day before move in day if you can believe it when we were on the road to the school) telling us there was a problem with several orders including ours. I would recommend that you get it in your hands long before move in day. They did give us a $25 dollar printer because of the SNAFU but D was stressed out as you would imagine. Everything is on line today so she had to scurry to the library to get the info she needed. We could have brought her old one if they had told us of the problem in a timely manner. That being said she has been to the store twice to get some issues resolved and they were prompt and fixed it immediately.</p>

16

<p>I have had a good experience with Cav Computers. I bought a dell laptop for just over 1k plus a printer. Picked both up at orientation. Since then I have brought the computer in for two separate issues, both resolved relatively quickly. Very happy with the service.</p>

<p>Interestingly, I got a $300 notebook for Christmas this year. I have not touched my old laptop since, except to play video games. If you are cheap and do not require serious computing power, I think this is the way to go.</p>

17

<p>I ended up buying a refurbished Dell Latitude on the Dell outlet website, with a 15% off coupon code. It ended up being about 40% less than a new one. As a result, I was able to afford a solid state hard drive, an extended warranty and a much faster processor. The refurbished machines often were returns for a minor problem, that were then fixed and went through a full set of tests before being resold.</p>

18

<p>Bought my sons mac book pro from CAV computers. It comes with great software already installed. Week 2 of school my son spilled water on it. They sent it out for repair and gave him a loaner for the 2 weeks it took to repair. I would buy from them again. The only thing I would do differently is to get an insurance policy to cover the water damage which he had to pay for. I have the policy now, it was reasonably priced compared to the cost to repair the computer. Having the loaner computer was very important. They run the same pricing programs as the mac store.</p>

19

<p>We bought D’s computer for SEAS last suimmer through Cav Computers and it was a great experience - in fact I priced a laptop with the same specs and warranty through Dell and Cav Computers came out cheaper (though it was not an inexpensive laptop) but the 4 year warranty for anything and the on-site repairs was key and so far so good.</p>

<p>I know it isn’t an option for all but I set up D with her own checking account through USAA and she’s had no problems or need for a local bank and USAA covers ATM fees. She can also make deposits via the web or mobile phone and handle everything online. </p>

<p>She also loved Cav Advantage for spending money around campus and laundry!</p>